Wat Phra Mahathat is the ruins of a Buddhist temple, which is known by the head of the Buddha tangled up in the tree roots. The stone head would be cut off and rolled around a young tree when Burma invaded Thailand and it would have gotten caught in roots as the tree aged. Wat Phra Mahathat is one of the historically important temples about whose construction time two hypotheses exist. The towers of the temple are said to have been shining in a golden color, but now they had fallen into ruin through the war against Burma. There sadly remain the tree roots twined around the stone Buddha head, Buddhas without their heads, collapsing brick walls, and the bleached basis of the prayer hall at present. At the renovation in 1956, a huge historic estate was found and housed in Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. You can see lots of golden Buddhas, and valuable jewelry there. When I heard about the museum, I wanted to visit it, but it was not included on my tour route. This is my humble opinion, but can we not say that we wouldn't have been able to imagine the prosperity of the Ayutthaya Dynasty through only those ruins. It's really regrettable that I wasn't able to drop in at Chao Sam Phraya National Museum.
A Japanese, Nagamasa Yamada, moved to Ayutthaya in the early 17th century. The average Japanese high school students know him through their history class. He had lived in Ayutthaya and died there involved in a war. I had assumed that there must be some traces of his life in Ayutthaya. I saw a traffic sign which read "Japanese Village". I asked the tour guide if we could go by there. She told me that there were no traces of Japanese. The tour guide didn't show me a cheerful face about Nagamasa Yamada. I decided to study his life after coming back to Japan.
(Vocabulary)
The church had fallen into ruin. 教会はすっかり荒れ果てていた．
Chao Sam Phraya National Museum チャオ・サン・プラヤー国立博物館
ワット・マハータート
ワット・マハータートは仏教寺院の廃墟。木の根で覆われた仏頭で知られる。破壊された仏像の頭が木の根の近くに転がり、長い年月を掛けて根が絡まったものなのだろう。この寺院は建築時期に諸説ある１３世紀の重要な寺院の一つ。かつては塔の頂上が黄金に輝いていたとされるこの寺院もビルマ軍の侵略により廃墟と化し、今は木の根の間に埋め込まれた仏像の頭や、頭部がない仏像、崩れ落ちたレンガの壁や礼拝堂の土台が残るのみとなっていた。１９５６年の修復の際、塔の跡から数々の黄金仏や宝飾品などが発見され、これらは現在チャオ・サン・プラヤー国立博物館に展示されているらしい。そう聞いて是非とも訪問したくなったが、ツアーコースには含まれておらず残念だった。勝手な思い込みかもしれないが、このような廃墟群を見るだけではアユタヤの栄華を理解できないのではないだろうか。博物館へ立ち寄りたかったな。
１７世紀初頭にタイに渡った山田長政という日本人がいる。アユタヤに住んでいた。アユタヤには彼が暮らした跡が少しは残っているのだろうと思っていた。ツアーバスからJapanese Villageの道路標識も見た。寄ってもらえないかとガイドに尋ねると日本人町の跡は残っていないという。ガイドは山田長政についてあまり良い顔をしなかった。帰国後に調べてみようと思った。
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